


The Riddle of Man

by cto10121



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 07:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9480398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cto10121/pseuds/cto10121
Summary: An orphaned boy rises to become the most powerful and feared wizard of his age. But when he hears a prophecy about a boy destined to defeat him, his deadly action spells his undoing. Or should we say, his inaction? The true story of the man who became Lord Voldemort.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the impostume of reading too much Shakespeare, which outward breaks and knows not why potential readership dies. But for those who don’t mind this weird marriage of poetry and fanfic, here it is. For anyone unused to verse, try reading aloud, softly, to yourself. It will make better sense that way.

**The Riddle of Man**

Though oft the sweet-sung tale of late renown  
Among our common laud, a troubled mind  
Did lead me once to quiet witness sound,  
Whose tale obscure too late did wisdom find,  
Ere he was laid on fruitless ground to rest:  
So this, in's memory, I'll tell to test.

There lived a boy of raven hue, whose eyes  
All eyes did draw to praise, like midnight sheer  
On iv'ry marble smooth, that, realized,  
Did show to all his beauty's moonlight clear.  
And groped to him describe in just compare,  
As dark Adonis of renownèd fair.

His charms did charm, his pleasing wit bewitched,  
Enchanting craft which swiftly won the grace  
Of wondered wizard and of swooning witch,  
Which easy skill had shown the telling trace  
Of ancient Slytherin, his mother's line,  
That all gave due to noble blood's divine.

His talent known, at school he rose to fame,  
For in all of curse and jinx and hex excelled,  
And there grew known his stranger's Muggle name,  
Though in his vein coursed blood of Peverell.  
And soon him followed in a loving throng  
A motley court that sued for favor longed.

A love had he, one Coralina Smith,  
Niece to old Hepzibah, Hufflepuff's heir.  
Though Slytherin-sorted, of cunning pith,  
Her heart was golden gentleness' fair.  
Her grace he wooed, courted, and present won,  
And with her went after schooling done.

But lo, it cannot be that matchless form  
Can spotless match within; for violent birth  
Of need-imbibed desire, like the worm,  
Does seethe and chafe to prove its scanted worth  
In ancient world of magic's right and might,  
Where strong seize all, and weakling fall from sight.

So young Tom Riddle (hight) like fury strove  
At Borgin's worked till morning's shadow eye,  
His lover like a wife, balm to his behove,  
His confidante in every act and lie.  
This love like coin resembled, on each side,  
Where mirror twins of blackest fair resides.

"Master Burke for your advancement speaks,"  
Said she in whispered confidence of bed,  
"A vacancy, which falls on thee to seek!  
Lest some popinjay take it in thy stead;  
For even lowly Ministry hire  
May rise to fill his dark desire."

So up, our Tom preferred, like blooming rose,  
Or special magnet which success draws near,  
Or moon the ocean's tide attracts it close,  
Did climb to ranks of rank ambition's dear,  
Which seeks the earthly fruit of polis crown  
That grants immortal heights from humble ground.

A politic career had made him well,  
And soon a loyal twelve, who called him lord,  
Of talent profit and in leisure dwell,  
With selfsame hungry want for power's hoard.  
And in this pledge did swear to serve 'a true  
At his command by wand of phoenix yew.

What then, in spring success, could augur bring?  
His lover now his wife, his lordship's queen;  
The Phoenix order fled on frighted wing,  
The Ministry at heel, his power seen;  
Why, then, this leaden flash, this dew of cold,  
That harrows up the bone to press him old?

"A prophecy, my lord." Thus plague begun.  
His man Severus, bone-white, spoke in few:  
"Your death's proclaimed by newborn summer son,  
Whom you must end, or risk your state undo.  
This Sibyl Trelawney with rasping speech  
Spoke fearful fortune; hear it, I beseech.

"The sons of these two enemies, both alike  
In dignity and danger they present:  
Fair Longbottom, and Potter in his spite,  
Which your success they bitter most resent:  
As families of ancient line and clout,  
Your hard-won right they scorn, your blood they doubt.

"O, good my lord, do not this augur heed,  
The vague pronouncement of uncertain word,  
To mark each penny-filching doctor's greed  
And loose your judgment to reason most absurd.  
For augurs are like rakehell oaths, all bawds,  
And this Trelawney shy of certain fraud.

"O, yet while you've your strength, take care defend  
The triumph of your state through power's just!  
For sudden acts precipitate their end,  
Like lover's frenzy dead in passion's dust.  
What need, therefore, to spur from glory's sun,  
And plan a fell attack on Lily's son?

"Darling Lily's son, and Longbottom's too,  
Are nothing to your lordship's grace compared;  
Say they'll grow to do you wrong, say that's true:  
'Tis common known that common ends by rare.  
Your patience stay; but if you needs must act,  
On Longbottom fall your preventive tact.

"Your mercy, lord, commends your mercy's grace,  
In granting me your humble servant's plea,  
To spare that love that love itself did lace  
With beauty's rose and fortune's starry lea.  
Then in your wisest censure judge  
Whether greater lord would lesser plea begrudge."

"I do conceive," (this in reply), "thy plight,  
Severus; so I here confess me free  
From fond gain-giving or too-credent fright  
In piercing shallow mists of prophecy.  
For when I give consent to fear invest  
Pronounce me bankrupt in both wit and rest."

And yet it's often seen that jealousy,  
When faced with Fortune's accidents,  
Runs sweaty mind with sharp conspiracy,  
And nurtures compost seeds of false intent.  
So 'twas the seeress proved her risky lie,  
When both that month his motion's plans defied.

To Dumbledore the fam'lies swore an oath,  
And joined his Phoenix order to prevent  
The fearful promise of his office troth:  
By courting the pureblood constituent,  
Prestige and power gain, in nation rule,  
And nevermore play fortune's motley fool.

But dark and queer, the dreams that haunt the life,  
Like swinging pendulum of nightmare trance!  
So deep his brood it did alarm his wife,  
Who stayed the loose-held reigns of augured chance  
To tell him this: "This seeress is but light;  
Stay, therefore, do not order judgment's flight.

"'Tis always been the truc of prophecy,  
Itself to realize its self's belief  
With vague announcement garbed as certainty,  
Of which, for proof, their own self proof is chief.  
Thus builds a hollow case in iron proof,  
Like lawyer's edifice's absent roof.

"To do this deed, your credit would undo,  
Which yet some eye of public favor holds,  
For trophies, trinkets, offices that honor you  
Their luster lost, their waste is present sold.  
Advancement by this act so would fly  
Your fortune forfeit, that hour's honor dies.

"I say this not to stay, oh, understand,  
Thy mounting name; but thou must yet fear  
With too-small pause to dye thy spotless hand,  
And easy fall in murder's blackened smear.  
Oh, do not thee so: For all greatness must  
The jealous mass attract like scented lust.

"This Sibyl is a punk, a drab, a pass,  
Who never spoke in life a word of truth:  
Cassandra's blood, though not her See she has,  
And so she's worked as pandlar-bawd since youth.  
To credit her a minute past her rate,  
Would soon reduce ye to a beggar's state."

"This advice of caution's well" (so spoke he)  
"And therefore caution will I best employ:  
To crush the bud before it flowers me  
With pestilence, else spell my end in joy.  
For sickness left untendered deathly rage  
To leave one simple mark upon a page."

"Wilt thou aid me, Cora? Dost thou approve?"  
They clinging fast, a little world in room,  
And, silent, understood the force which moves  
The trembling thread through steady weaving loom,  
And weave the silky purse with icy will  
Which glory's expectation helps keep still.

* * *

 

II.

The night of Hallows' Eve drew velvet black.  
The moon, forewarned, had cloaked herself from see;  
In laden streets a masquerade was wracked  
Like glimm'ring jewels in solemn ebony.  
But lo, how starless was this hallowed night,  
As if these loyal guards had quit in fright!

And if some common portents there were seen,  
As owl's daylight pass or talking horse;  
The dire thunderclap, the lone wolf's keen,  
A ghost relating horror in blank verse,  
None bore the fruit of witness or of deed;  
But horror more than these did proceed.

And, ghosting, cloaked through village festive's streets,  
The riddle walked with slow, ungainly tread.  
A flask through gripless fingers, flavored sweet,  
Empty rang the streets as slipping courage fled.  
Each step proclaimed: Let fall life, usher death,  
For only fools dare barter precious breath.

A child, no more, a life to say but one,  
Untested thought that grows in's promise doubt.  
Then kind enough t'eclipse this flaming son,  
Lest fiery growth in danger scorch him out.  
What lacks he, then, but strength of chosen will,  
To banish evil life with goodly kill?

Fair or dark, dark and fair, or darkly fair,  
To ravel future fall from stars divine;  
Which peril's boy discern, which wizard's heir  
Would one day claim, "This life were mine"?  
And then unbidden came the knowing spark –  
Fair and dark had fought; so won the dark.

The hallowed Hollow in evening's Hallow,  
Rose rosy vision of a mountain mist.  
Whiskey quickened blood and breathing shallow,  
The web of fogging doubt that must desist.  
Till in his memory's abstract lived this creed:  
To never stay till ending of this deed.

So banish doubt, sink feeling to the bone;  
And flaming mind abate with cooling patience.  
Make lily-livered heart to practice stone,  
Leave mother mercy off with temperance.  
And should in this endeavor triumph can,  
You'd prove yourself a more than mortal man.

Within was dark without a sound. A chance  
Of pause him stayed: Was this a trap, a trick?  
Had the Potters warning of his advance?  
A furious stream of light replied, a lick  
Of smarting curse – the jealous father stood,  
Armed and ready to defend his brood.

No discourse, all instinct, marked the first exchange,  
And silent house her secret soon disclosed.  
They fought as teething beasts, deranged,  
Where one opponent fell, the other rose.  
Till both in struggle had about the neck;  
A moment's beat before the fatal wreck.

The flash of jade this shattered mirror caught,  
The slash that chasm tore the living place –  
What eye would horror glimpse, received unsought,  
The cleanly break's irrevocable case?  
The body fell, and so fell too marred youth,  
That bit of soul that so betrayed its truth.

In silence rang, though never heard, the moan  
Whose mournful treble for her husband's death  
Would have stole the general ear and sown  
In ev'ry sleeping conscience anguished breadth,  
And make the stones themselves on murder cry  
Which joined his racing blood where conscience lies.

The lick of flame that vanished on the stair  
At his trespass and sequent wizard's duel  
Now flashed in desp'rate quickness 'round the fair  
It gilded, like porcelain of queenly rule,  
Now fleshly pale at horror's hasty side  
Her tender hidden from the wicked hide.

"Desist, depart," she cried. "No more, I pray –  
Take me instead; I do throw my life of care,  
And your hand upon my head fear not stay.  
But not my boy, no, not my son, him spare,  
And I will do you any service, now,  
So changing mercy with a servant's vow."

"I have no quarrel nor no use for thee,"  
Quoth he. "Stand aside. Mercy will I give  
If thou my business let unhindered free,  
'Less like thy husband thou wilt scorn to live.  
So quit thy begging – no, I cannot hear –  
Leave hanging from my sleeve, come not so near."

"Kind master, good lord," she sobbed. "Don't refuse;  
You cannot be so kindless, no, you must,  
Nor can you my frankness so abuse  
And kill for naught the simplest sense of just.  
Have pity, then, upon my state, have soul,  
Which you know I know you have, that yet is whole.

"Or better still, take him alive; how great  
Your triumph then, to turn a dreaded foe  
To friend, to son, to chief of highest state;  
How can he turn, raised to love you so?  
For all the best do know for war to end  
You must a present foe turn future friend.

"Oh, raise him, then, be father and mother  
To him, and use me as pleases your will:  
As your servant, woman, both, or other,  
At table, bed, or secretary's quill,  
At hand to do whatever needs be done,  
So long as he may live your honored son."

"What mother mothered, what father fathered!  
When I was this boy's age, a stranger filled  
My cup of need along with several others  
Orphaned by indifferent fortune, whose will  
Decreed the curse of life of endless want!"  
This spoke with maddened eye and favor gaunt.

"Be grateful, then, thy son will never know  
The orphan plight of raising tear-flesh shame,  
That must surrender constant proof, or grow  
In banished self the cancer of his name.  
Such little lives in fettered darkness lead,  
That souls that leave are blinkered by their need.

"Forbear! Thou silly wench, think'st thou me kind?  
This kindness lost, if ever had, is bar  
To acts of heightened pitch which will find  
A greater glory reaching farther star.  
Then come what fate and sorrow follow:  
Beyond them lies the hope of better morrow."

So shoved she aside, but no sooner done  
Than she with stinging hex attempted wide,  
Which, blocked, ended what had scarce begun:  
_Avada Kedavra_ answered her pride.  
And struck her to the core of living life  
The light extinct with cut of fiery knife.

And this exchange the child witnessed all,  
Unknowing eyes that nursed the wounded gash  
And humor mild at his mother's fall,  
Consumed by eerie glow of em'rald lash,  
Which stole his loyal mother from his right  
Into the plunge of everlasting night.

The murderer, the infant in its crib,  
For a moment's beat formed a painted scene,  
As if the sortilege of fate had dimmed  
And froze the famous pair in _Avada_ -green.  
A frescoed Tom and Hal in rival's sort:  
The Boy-Who-Lived with so-called Voldemort.

But as we know from ancient faded writ,  
That time-worn tales do lose their little truth,  
Traditions turning legend, legend myth,  
Till age gives faded fancy fancy's youth,  
So too this tyrant-beast, so hight, did stay  
Like statue frozen: Nothing neither way.

Nothing! Yes, nothing. Wracked in wonder, I  
Made question, disbelieved this calm report.  
But him I sounded, with a saddened eye,  
Knew I knew him true on Voldemort.  
He stayed his fell, and hidden world did see  
This Voldemort turn present Voldevie.

Unseeing stared at the unheeding boy;  
The moments rolled and lengthened to a crawl.  
The child, smiling, proffered him his toy,  
A furry griffin wrapped in crimson shawl.  
As if in friendly peace and gesture just,  
To stranger, if his liking tended thus.

Decline your wand of yew; it's over now.  
Do not with vainest show a falsehood keep.  
In war a soldier fights to hold his vow,  
But ever after never finds his sleep.  
For who would, kindless, innocence slaughter  
In guise of potential son or daughter?

He thought on Cora, on himself, his state,  
The sibyl's oracle, Snape's petition.  
But as he anguished, there heard Apparate  
The Phoenix, which surrounded the partition.  
Which forced him to employ his plan's escape,  
With friends to hide, join Cora, send for Snape.

Round, like a circle in a spiraled wheel,  
The space constricted in an eyelash wink,  
Through coaxing whirl its spinning thread unreels  
His liquid essence pooling in a sink,  
Until the hearth of Riddle House appeared  
At Cora's feet, demanding him her fear.

"I heard rumors from the Hollow," she said,  
Pale as ash. "Thou quakest with fear, thy favor's wild.  
What happened? Are thou hurt, are they dead?  
The Phoenix is called; didst thou kill the child?"  
"No," he groaned. "No, no. Cora, I am through.  
I've murdered sleep, and sleeping killed I you."

"What speech is this? My lord, you shake. Do bend  
Your discourse into some frame; what occurred?  
The night's bleak horrors could no spell forfend;  
The elves did tremble at each trifle heard.  
Is the mission undone? Yet tell me so,  
So flee this place, to further safety go."

"Ay, ay, to flee," he breathed. "We must, 'tis true.  
But let us not, sweet wife, ourselves deceive.  
Forbear all counsel. Here's my wand of yew:  
Perform _Priori,_ then break it. Conceive,  
And let us haste, and there embrace our doom:  
A burdened life, which must in us assume."

Gone was the triumph that had come before,  
Gone were the fruits of warlike state enjoyed,  
Gone were safety, peace, the sanctum's core,  
The undefiled piece of man and boy.  
Hope forsaken, vows forsworn, lives undone,  
They to shadows turned from midnight sun.

* * *

III.

Alone, forsook, in tower languishing,  
Beneath a sky that held no hint of peace.  
What little hope that keeps from perishing  
In's shrunken breast the fine of shortened lease,  
Did pace in fev'rish-ill round restless cage,  
While cold-eyed stars played witness to his rage.

His orders foiled, his men in blind retreat;  
His Cora gone, and Severus long since fled;  
The Hogwarts siege a failure uncomplete,  
And on each side the living reckoned dead.  
Now warlike Harry, in his eager pride  
Flies to Riddle House with heated stride.

Or so spake rumor; he no longer knew  
The diff'rence 'tween a moonlit night and noon,  
Between autumnal's chill and springtime dew,  
Between a loyal man and sycophant's croon,  
But dealt each toy with jealous sputt'ring rant,  
Spurned good and ill alike in scornful cant.

"What, Yaxley! Malfoy! Rosier! Are all fled?  
A pox 'a fops and gulls that cannot stand!  
Fie, Bella, dost thou hear? Thy husband's dead,  
And would his fellows proved so true a man!  
Go to and hang, ye lily-livered knaves!  
Is this to pay the graciousness I gave?

"What, Nott defaulted too? Then traitors, hence!  
O shamed deceit, these yellow whoreson curs,  
That feel sans feeling, lose their common sense!"  
He beat his chest; his lover too did hers,  
And brought his person level to her eyes,  
Who comfort gave to ease his great despise.

"Have cheer, my good lord, all is not lost yet;  
The beasts are fresh, the battle scarce begun;  
But give me leave to seek out Marsenet –  
Prithee, lord, give me leave to seek our son,  
Whom honor pricks in mortal vengeful plan,  
Seeking young Potter's death at thy command."

"Bella, do not stir from hence! Thee I told  
A thousand times remain, and so thou wilt;  
Let Marse his importunity strike bold;  
Fiori has too much his mother's milk.  
For loving Cora's favor lives in him,  
And tortures me with madness as its whim."

"Proud I am," said she, fierce, "of Mars' might,  
For son so mewed I'd scorn to breathe the name.  
My honor's better served to join the fight,  
And change each Phoenix blow with fatal same.  
Then let my duty better show in this,  
Fair warrior die than live in coward's bliss."

"Oh, coward's bliss," he sighed. "Would it were mine,  
And inner calm restore the balm of sleep!  
Revive the luscious spring of barren time,  
That left me drowned in crimson ageless deep,  
Until our self like factious jealous state  
Undoes itself in chaos rebel's fate."

"Do not so speak," she hissed. "Oh, fie, oh, fie!  
Are you a man? Is this proper bearing?  
Oh, once you could the wrathful gods defy,  
And now like timid beast thy hairs rise staring!  
Oh, good my lord, renounce this woman's chatter;  
Thy power yet is more than mortal matter."

"Leave me, Bel. By Salazar, forbear!  
Go, then, with Marsenet, take up the cause,  
And seek Fiori's stay. Content thee, fair:  
My years, a tangled scarf of torn-up gauze,  
Is skinlike stretched to ephemeral taut  
And seeks a knitted rest from weary lot."

But desperate thought, as Bella left, crept in,  
And colored gaping absence' memory  
With too-fine fears that, heartened, slither in,  
The tempest clouding up his wat'ry see,  
Till bare and stony tower mirror turned  
To mock his face, his folly dearly earned.

For oh, how vile the flesh in loathing steeps,  
Like poison-vat that thinking gives a cure!  
Dry lesions in his bony hands, which creeped  
And tried to tear proud body's insecure!  
His beauty's gone, a shadow coarse'd by years,  
And manly form weathered by kindly tears.

Without the distracted lord's chamber door,  
In base of winding stair a foot did rest.  
Gazing up the helix (oh, true Gryffindor!)  
Was Harry Potter, crown of Hogwarts' best,  
Whose Godric's sword did grip with master right,  
In churning lust for coming master fight.

Blood did gild that form unmatched in breadth,  
That broad poitrine of sleek and wiry strength,  
Glistening with the salt of valiant breath,  
That amorous wet each sinew of his length.  
The dark-fair rose of youth, this golden boy;  
A wizard prince, Dumbledore's pride and joy.

"Fiori," he said, low, "You're sure he's there?"  
"Ay, sweet Harry," the latter, grim, replied,  
"With his own fears made drunk and mad with care,  
A beast who wallows in the filth he lies;  
To put him down would be a mercy's act,  
And you yourself the sealer of that pact."

"Join hands with me, Fiori," (so said he)  
"And pardon it, with all thy heart, that fell  
That ended thy brother's life. Let, for thee,  
This cancel crime, foul words between us quell.  
And let grow fruit of golden amity  
Thy service honor banished enmity."

"Merlin be with thee!" Clasping him, 'a cried,  
"Marse's death fall not on thee. O thou great,  
O thou most good! An thou wert now to die,  
What feeling loss would pang the tott'ring state!"  
"Do not yet speak of death," said Harry, bleak.  
"I hate the word, and do defy its weak.

"Tell Ron of Fenrir, of poor Hagrid's plight;  
Break gently news of Fred and George's fall;  
Hunt Dolohov, for Remus' death requite;  
Send brave Hermione to McGonagall.  
Bid them join the rest, not to stay for me;  
Riddle I must face alone, or ne'er be.

"And one last thing –" He swallowed thickly here.  
"If by any chance thou see'st Ginny –"  
But love, which speaks through storm and silenced fear,  
Through god-ruled fate and mortal tyranny,  
Did tie his ready tongue with struggling pause:  
Love too great for words makes speechless cause.

His friend regardless understood. "Ay,  
I shall. Never thee fear." He gazed at him,  
And laden chest exhumed a pregnant sigh,  
As if regretting some old childhood whim.  
And sans another word the two did part,  
In silent gesture speaking heavy heart.

The long and slow ascent, the torches' shade,  
That led with clammy step to Riddle Tow'r,  
Took warlike Harry to each passing grade,  
His noble heart grow fierce with trembling pow'r.  
For dark his heated purpose, ice his breath,  
To pay the lord at last his parents' death.

He met the door; _Alohomora_ made  
It yield. The dreaded sight appeared, appalled,  
The shrunken shadow's shadow, merest shade.  
That stood near window with a darkened pall,  
And did not turn to greet him at the door;  
So went ignored the noble Gryffindor.

Neither did silence break with needless speech,  
Nor flourished wand or blood-caked sword withdrew,  
Nor cleaved the other's ear with verbal breach,  
Or faults with ringing condemnation spewed,  
Nor even gave with name avenger's cry,  
As, "You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Instead he turned, and, startled, met his twin,  
As if in glass or master painter caught,  
No change without reflecting change within –  
Tom Riddle had appeared, unwilled, unsought!  
How could this be? But no, his eye had erred:  
His mind had hasty jumped to dream preferred.

No, Harry was himself, his father's spit,  
In form and bearing a dark and well-made youth;  
But in the fire of his almond pit,  
The emerald Lily lived to blaze her truth:  
And once again gazed in her killer's eye,  
And once again his person she defied.

"Is't you at last?" he murmured low. "My foe,  
Or savior – I've long forgot the which.  
Have you then come to pitch my overthrow,  
My friends supplant, undo, restrain, bewitch?  
Or like a sheep in wolfish garb dost come  
To reckon up my debt to force a sum?"

"Thy reckoner's here," said Harry coldly.  
"Stand, if you be man, and we our strength shall try.  
My parents' loss my glory's gain shall be,  
And prove those ancient words which prophesied  
The fate which knits us in her threaded gyves:  
'Neither can live while the other survives.'"

"Thou wretched boy!" Rounding in a flashing break.  
"I'll see thee ere I go with thy parents sent!  
Life's a candle flame that, with slightest quake,  
The smallest breath may careless usher rent;  
So stint, thou seed. Take heed to tender light  
That youthful wick which soon is swallowed night."

"Thou thing! Thou paper-king of rags and patch,  
Thou serpent-prince of foul and ancient rot!  
The germ of evil and of fell dispatch,  
That knits disasters in its wedded knot!  
And now, thou shadow's shadow, here must end  
The canker ill of ill's allowed propend!"

And not a word thereafter spoken, no,  
Nor slightest breath of air exchanged;  
When words do fail, the greater is the show,  
That follows fast with furious martial range;  
And so they to't, wand to wand, man to man,  
To guard till final breath their person's stand.

The grim-eyed chamber lit with charging spell,  
Some dying splattered on unyielding stone,  
Exploding firecrackers that did quell  
On dusty ground extinct by ashy loam.  
Or else that mortal lash of hex that missed  
And brushed their robèd arms like streaking kiss.

Which side more desp'rate and which more maddened,  
To deal the final blow? Their worth  
Were equal on both, and Fortune, saddened,  
Knew well the justice of their troubled birth.  
And quit her post, leaving weaving wheel,  
For mortals to decide their own fate's seal.

And oh, who did not hear the scream of Bellatrix,  
But heated blood did freeze in fearful vein?  
When she her Marse's death found out the trick  
That stole his life and she her honor stained,  
Then sobbing tore through house with vengeful aim;  
Till stayed by Molly Weasley, grieving same.

"Thou scorpion, thou scullion poison-well,  
Thou dram – no, don't thee dare not walk away!  
My darling twins thy stainèd hand had felled  
And now thy debt is mine to make thee pay.  
Oh, I'll assure my strike won't be in vain,  
For thou wilt harm my children ne'er again."

"Traitors! Murd'rous knaves and thieves!  
The fount of foulest, villainous evil!  
Oh sweet my brave, my darling son!" So grieved,  
Like tempest gales the heart's upheaval,  
It stopped her speech; and blindly struck her wild,  
In vengeance 'gainst the world for darling child.

A clash of opposites, of vicious reach,  
Twin whirlwind furies of a crimson pitch.  
Each mother's grief a circle feeding each,  
Which called one weasel whore, the other bitch;  
And fought till Molly caught her on the ground;  
Her wand like knife to neck did put her down.

Did he feel, I wonder, his lieutenant,  
Before her mortal strings of life were caught?  
Hope her house had quit, and left as tenant  
The want that craves its end in naught.  
And silent begs the mercy-giver act  
To kill the sullied flesh of shameful fact.

As Bella went, her lover was disarmed,  
And slipping, with arm outstretched he fell;  
Quick Harry poised to execute that harm  
That soon would send him kicking heel to hell.  
And this advantage quickly moved to seize:  
Himself still armed, his rival on his knees.

But as in life beyond a paper fame,  
Oft the things we mean to do miscarry  
Or never realized, or change in aim,  
Purpose, circumstance, or name. So Harry,  
Like a painted character dumbly stood  
And let his doubting "should" o'erwhelm his "would."

And in that space where silent counsel streams,  
Entire worlds of words conveyed through gaze,  
The time between did pass like sluggish dream  
Like years and not some seconds passed in haze.  
So youth and age, dark and dark, fame and fame,  
Like statues stared, dumb in unfinished game.

The winds without had calmed, as eye of storm,  
Before a thunderclap the silence rent;  
The air did lose its biting frost and warmed,  
Which all of mercy's hope in second spent.  
So to it went again the foes; but then  
Wands met in _Priori Incantatem_.

A golden thread the several streams enjoined,  
The honeyed warmth that, streaming, intercourse;  
A rushing surge of pow'r in chaffing loins  
That meet with fervor in deep-throated force.  
Two wills in one, and one in that one will,  
In battle fought; but impasse kept them still.

The spell forced memory; the wands confessed  
Each wrathful kill, each calculated hurt.  
Not one did stint in shame, but rather tressed  
In essence same, though meeting briefly curt.  
How loath the one to undo its brother!  
How warm they greeted, like open lover!

And yet it could not be but their joy was brief:  
The phoenix of the holly trumped the yew,  
Though not without the pain of magic's grief,  
That made its brother's spell dissolve like dew.  
Oh sorrow's cross, to bear that loving strife,  
To be the one to end beloved life!

So Voldemort, then Voldevie, now naught,  
His riddle solved, but wants its puzzle piece,  
That in his raging sorrow desperate sought  
The pardon that would give his trial peace.  
Now dearly found, and dearer bought by youth,  
Who now stands heir to all his state and truth.

The hush that fell, the fury's storm's recede,  
Though not a mite abated, made a pause  
To give a panting Harry back his need  
And room to bring the truth of triumphed cause,  
Before the joyful sight of living friend:  
The evil scarce begun has present end.

But oh, what joy, what cheer did start  
And filled with lusty roar the bleak lacuna:  
For who did meet him, these loyal hearts,  
But Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna?  
His faithful warriors, and more, and more,  
Did come to throng him at the door.

Exhausted, weary, words but breath and air,  
He made no sound except to say his deed,  
And thought on nothing but his ended care,  
That sixteen years of strife did lead.  
And soon looked forward to a life well fed,  
With fierce-proud Ginny by his side to wed.

With ringing bell, the Hogwarts flag was hung  
And draped across old Riddle senior's hall.  
Requiems for the lost and hymns were sung  
To victory dearly won by brother's fall.  
And triumph over wicked wizard dead,  
Now gone to goblin's hell below sans head.

For Tom Marvolo Riddle, his body found,  
Was tossed and thrown in playful wizard's game,  
And for a trophy, as from bear or hound,  
Off went the severed head of wicked fame,  
To join his fiendish wife and cobra lover  
As butcher king in markless tomb uncovered.

His eldest son, Fiori, now his heir,  
Was guarded for a time without his room,  
His treason known, that made him present fair  
By Harry, who made him a courtly groom.  
Although his tyrant sire's blood did make  
Suspicion's odorless smoke trail his wake.

Fior did not last, but fared much better  
Than oily Malfoy, now past all earthly care,  
Or kindless Crabbe with brutish Trevor,  
Both fiendish fire's meat of Ron the Bear.  
With Dolohov through, cut by Ginny's curse,  
The rest were carted off for fate much worse.

Then wisdom blanched, his trickling tale he stayed.  
I, in puzzlement, inquired for his health.  
"Oh, fie," he moaned. "I was a fool to say  
What none should dare for all his land and wealth!  
But enough. 'Tis done, and I must perforce  
Vouchsafe my life in safety's hidden course."

And so I wait, evading looming fate,  
My mystery hid deep in key-locked breast.  
This final thought that good with ill equates  
Confounds me so it's loath to leave me rest:  
What laden price for soul to understand  
The story monsters made from riddled man!

_Finis._


End file.
